By: Jonathon Wolfe
There’s no finer feeling than opening a board game that you’ve never played before; peeling the shrink-wrap off of the cardboard to which it daintily clings and opening the instructions for the first time; yelling to friends to be quiet whilst struggling to understand said instructions, which of course won’t make any sense until you’ve played five turns. Each box contains an entirely unique experience, a different set of rules that will govern a person’s thinking for the next hour or more.
In high school my older brother and I would host weekly board game nights. This wasn’t some sort of thing our family made us do, some parental struggle to distract us momentarily from the TV set. No, this was our idea. The money we would spend finding new and interesting games to keep our guests happy was astronomical. See, these days one can’t just sit down to play a board game, like with a videogame or a movie. You have to convince other people, modern people who need instant gratification, that playing this game will be worth their time. Once we convince them, however, and get them through the initial clumsy process of setting out the pieces and explaining the rules, they clearly begin to enjoy themselves.
So upon coming to Savannah it was not a surprise to me, when trying to explain to my friends the virtue of the board game, that they rolled their eyes. When I spent a hefty amount of dollars on a new game that I’d never tried, they seemed too stubborn to try it with me. The problem reaches even farther than just getting someone to play a board game, but getting someone to play a board game that is not Monopoly. People love Monopoly because they already know how to play. The problem with Monopoly (and games like it) is that it is incredibly boring and it takes approximately an average human lifespan to complete a game. The key is to choose games that take between an hour to two hours to complete, at least to wean your friends. These sorts of games (gems such as Puerto Rico or Settlers of Catan) are enjoyable and will be finished before anyone gets bored or feels like they are too deep in the hole to win.
Tonight, I’m planning on playing Ticket to Ride (a great game about the train industry) with a group of friends who now all know the joy that it can bring. I’ve learned that if you need to add a couple drinks to the deal in order to convince them, it may well be worth it. “Well, where does one buy such fabulous board games?” you ask, and it is a good question. I recommend Morningstar Games on Montgomery Crossroads for a quality selection. “What if I don’t have any friends?” you ask. That is also quite a predicament. I would recommend you seek out the Gamer’s Guild, a SCAD club for people of similar interests. Just remember when you’re about to murder your former best friend over a road in Settlers of Catan, that it’s just a board game.
